Acetylene generator and torch.



A. F. 5. JOHNSON (BY JIfID' IAL CHANGE OF NAME NOW A. P. JENKINSXAUBTYLENE GENERATOR AND TORCH.

APPLICATION FILED MAY 10.1907.

Patented Apr. 26, 1910.

3 SHEETS-SHBET 1.

[IIIIIIIIIIIII I a I J 1 1 I l l l l lillllllxlll 2 igiwl t n l wif; Llj 7 1 1 i I 1 I .1 5 214111 V Z T m 0 "L111 A. F. J. JOHNSON (BYJUDICIAL CHANGE OF NAME NOW A. F. JENKINS).

ACETYLENB GENERATOR AND TORCH.

APPLICATION FILED MAY 10,1907.

Patented Apr. 26, 1910.

3 SHEETS-$11331 2.

awva wtoz A. F. J'. JOHNSON (BY JUDICIAL CHANGE OF NAME NOW A. F.JENKINS).

AGETYLENE GENERATOR AND TORCH.

APPLICATION FILED MAY 10 1907.

Patented Apr. 26

3 SHEETS-SHEET 3.

'Toallwhom'itmyconcefla: Be it known that I, ALEXANDER F, JE'N= UNITEDSTATES PAm NT oFFIcE;

ALEXANDEA J. JOHNSON, (BY rumour. CHANGE'OF NAME no wrlwxannnn r.

JENKINS,) OF BALTIMORE, MARYLAND,.ASSIGNOR TO ALEXANDER MILB R C PANY,OF BALTIMORE, MABYLANIL A CORPORATION OF MARYLAND.

AQETYLENE enniene'roaalan 'roncrr.

Patented Apr. 336; i910- Applicatlbn filed my 10, m. B81181 misqam.

KINS, (formerly ALEXANDER F. J. Jon nsoan) a subject ofthe King of'GreatBritain, residing at Baltimore, in the, State of Mary'- land, haveinvented certain newand useful Improvements in Acetylene Generators and.

Torches, of which the'following is a speciiication,

This invention relates to a combined acetylene generator and torch lihtof-the portable type,.especiall adapte for'contractors, builders,vehicles the like, for use in various construction work carried on bynight, or b day as in excavating and tunnelingg'a whi e the invention 15admirably adapted as a portable illuminating apparatus, there arecertain features that are susceptible tomore general application;

to improve and simplify the construction and operation of apparatus ofthe character 'referredto so as to be comparatively easy and inexpensiveto. manufacture,convenient to manipulate, and highly efiicient andreliable in service.

A further object of the invention is the provision of a generator tankhaviqfiga self contained washer for cleansing the gas be-- forepassingto the torch and servin at the same tin1e-as a means for preventing theI flame from passing back from the burner to thegeneratlng chamber, orback firing, as it is commonly termed. In some forms of portablelighting sets special devices are employed for preventing back firing,whereas in the present invention no suchadjunct is required since thewasher performs this. function. (Q)

A still further object .is to provide a simple and effective wnter feedwhereby the supply of water to the carbid can be varied to a nicety toautomatically produce gas in accordance with the demand.

Another object of the invention is the employment of a burner attachmentso designed that.the light can be readily directed to any desired point,that the burner can be removed for facilitating the packing of the.apparatns for-transportation, shipment, in for instantly changing to ahose attachment or other standard; that thegenerator cylmotor cars and'has for one of its objects any other without necessitating the removal 0the burner-therewith, and that index can be taken' out for rechargingor.

a plnraht of generating chambers within a single ank and deliveringthegas from all through a common washer in the base of the tank, to theburner or other aneans, the washer serving as a seal to permit anygenerating chem er to be taken out for re.-

charging without gas'escaping. And fnrther. the invention aims toproduce a portable enerator of extremely simple construction,

screws, couplings and 'the like. I p

Withtheseobjects in View, and others,

the invention comprises the various novel ,features of constructionjand'arrangement of parts which will be more fully described hereinafter andpointed out with particu.-"

lar'ity in the claims appended hereto.

In the accompanying drawings,' which es'igned to do away, .with rubberjoints,

'as will appear as the description proceeds illustrate one of theembodiments of-the invention, Figure l is a central vertical section ofa portable lighting set of the single generating chamber type, withportions broken away; Fi 2 is a top plan view showing arts bro en away.g. 3 is an enlarged ragmentary view of the two arts or drnms'of thegeneratln chamber s owing the spring catch for. ocking them' together analso the wick of the-water feeding device for fine regulation. Fi 4 1s acentral vertical section ofthe (lOJfi lQ gencrating chamber form. Fig. 5is a plan View thereof. Fig. 6 iso perspective view of the apparatusshowing the 'burnersection of the standard removed and connected withthe inner standard section by these attachment. Fig.7 is afragmentaryside'elevation of the apparatus showing a modified 4 'form' of burnerstandar whereby a hose may beattachedthereto orsupplying one or moreburners so as to have a number of lights atone time. i

Similar reference to designate corresponding parts throughout the'views.Y

characters are employed 1 "ing through} the partition 2 and bottom 6 1so -..a1ld, whicliis in the form of :1 strai ht pipe slightlylarger indiameter than of any suitable shape and size and is divided by ahorizontal partition 2 into an upper. generator containing compartment 3and a base compartment 4: containing a body of water to eonstitute awasher for removing im urities from the gas. Arranged cent ra 1ywithinthe tank is a vertical gas conducting pipe 5 secured in positionby pass and clamped by nutsat the openings in the partition and bottomreceiving pipe, an outside cap nut 7.,being placed on the bottom of thepipe'to close the end thereof. portion or. the pipe disposed in thewasher compartment has outlet apertures 8 and around the pipe is acylindrical deflector 9 for causing ,the as discharging from theapertures to be directed through the water so as to be. cleansed ofimpurities. An outlet pipe 1O communicates with the washer compartmentfor conducting 05: the washed as to a burner. This pipe which is securedin place in thesame manner as pipe 5, forms the stationary section ofthe burner standard, and IIextends upwardl some distance above themaximum water evel in the compartment. 3 and, loosely assembledover thepipe 10 is}the outer section 11 of the stand e inner section. The outer.section, which-is preferably made in two parts connected by a coupling11 for permitting. of disconnecting, slips verticallyover theinnersection and rests at its'lower end. on the bottom of this compartment..By this arrangement the comparatively long outer section can beconveniently removed in packing. the apparatus for shi mentortransportation, and furthermore t e outer section can be readily turnedthrough a complete revolution for throwing the light inany direction.Since the burner standard passes through the upper compartment the watertherein forms a seal between the two relatively movable sections of the4 standard so that leakage of gas is efl'ectiveliy prevented. [The uppersection of the stan ard maybe provided with one or more hingedlyconnected lengths of ipes 12 to permit the burner jet 13 to be a justedto a point where the light is needed. The gas passes to the burnerstandard from the washer throu h aperture 14 in the fixed section 10 anda o by means of theseapertures the washer can be emptied and cleaned,it- Being merely necessary to invert the tank so as to. cause the waterand sediment-to pass out through the pi e10, after the outer section orpi e 11 as been removed. The

- washer can e readily filled through the central pipe 5 when thegenerator is removed and the level of the water in the washer canbeascertained by the overflow through the The i cock 14 in one side ofthetank. To rams burner section in positioinand yet--prmit of readyrotation thereof,-'};"al spht 11?.

16' respectively, the former being open at.

its bottom to assemble over the latterto form a gas container or hell.Rising from the top of the outer cylinder 15 is a tube 17 disposed. overthe pipe 5, whereby the gas created in the generator passes upwardlybetween the tube 17 and pipe 5 to enter and flow down the latter to thewasher, as indicated by the arrows, and thence from the washeifto theburner as hereinbefore described. The drums 15 and 16 are submerged inthe water contained in the tank and normally reston the bottom orpartition 2. "The .drumsare. locked together so that they. can beinserted. and removed as a unitary device, and' for this purpose a catchin the form of a lea-f sprin easily placed in or be removed froniithetank. T0 release the spring catchjl8 it provided in the cylindrical w oithe drum. 15,, through which the finger or suitable in- 18, Figs. 1-a11'd3,- is secured totlie.. outsi e of the drum 16 and is adapted toengage at its lower end theinternal; rim 19 of the drum. Hence by takinghold or. the y 5- tube 17 as a handle thegeneratoncan be ole 20 -is 10ostrument can be inserted to press the 5 ring j catch inward-1y off the'rim '19, this of the tank. i

ing done, ofcourse, when the generator 'is out The inner cylinder ordrum 1 6 has a cen-I, tral tube 21 that surrounds the pi e 5. and

in the cylinder are superimpose carbid containing trays 22 ofany-approved construction. Those shown in thepresent in-" stance are ofthe triple compartment type divided by radial partition 23, andeacfiitray I having a water imet opening 24in.the floor of onecompartment and openings 25' in two of the partitions at differentlevels whereby the carbid 26 is acted on successively by water passingfirst into the compartment having an inlet in its bottom and thencesuccessively into the other compartments as the water level graduallyrises with the consumption of the gas.

The supply of her is effected in sucha manner as to cause the generationof gas in accordance with the demand at the burner. That is .to say,when there is a large fia ne requirin a water to the carbid chaml reatflow of gas, the water will be supp ied incomparatively large uantityand when the demand for gas is ight, the flow of water will berelatively small. To accomwater inlet openings 27 thereof, through thelowermost one. of whic the water enters from between the drums when-theconsumption of gasis light. and

obasbefl a this the cylindrical wall of the inner druni 16 has aplurality of vertically spaced adjacent the top through two or more ofwhich the water enters when the demand becomes heavier. This variationin the water supplied results. obviously, from the changes in the gaspres sure and is,'therefore, efiected automaticall 'Within the drum 16'is a shield 28 that 1s an extremely slow water feed,

disposed over the inlet openings to form a water conveying ductwheiebythe water is directed to. the bottom 0f the drum and caused toact on the carbid from underneath and by a gradual rise in'level. ,Toinsure I as when a very light demand for-gas is created, a fiber wick 29may be arrangedin the shield or guard 28, as shown in Fig.3 so that thewater will percolatedrop y drop. into the carbid containing drum. Theamount of live carbid in the generator can be readily ascertained at anytime by means of spaced water level rings or marks 30 on the tube- 17-,-itbeing understood that as the carbid the-tank 1-, the'outerdrumnnlocked and re-. moved to permit access to the trays. These isconsumed the water level in the compart' ment 3 gradually falls, untilthe'lowermost mark is reached, which indicates thattbe.

generator is empty and requires recharging.

To recharge. the generator is taken out of latter are taken out andtheir compartments emptied of the spent carbid, and new materialsubstituted, whereupon the trays are replaced. The drums are then lockedtogether and returned to the tank. It Wlll thus be seen that "thegenerator can be re.

plenished in a simple, convenient and expeditions manner.

Referring to the double generator apparatus shown in Figs. and 5 31designates the tank 'of such size as to contain a'plurality ofgenerators 32,' that are similar to that hereinbefore described, andwhich discharge the gas into a common washer- 33- in the base of thetank 31, the latter being built on the same design as .thetank shown inFig. 1. Arranged between the generatois or at any other suitable ointisa burner standard 34 that receives t e gas from the washer as shown bythe. arrows. This form of generating and lighting set, has the advantageof increased capacity, simplicity, of construction. and of being readilychargeable, since the generators are of such size as to be convenientlyhandled. By this multiple arrangement of generators any one of thelatter can be taken out for recharging purposes without interfering withthe operation of 'theburner, since the other generator or generatorscontinue the supply of gas, and the employment of a common use of threeadditional washer prevents the escape of gasw hilel'any generator is'removed, and this without the need of cut out valves. The standard 84has an annular flange 35' at its lower end, which projects underthegenerators 32 so 7 as to be locked in position by the'latter."Another important advantage of the particular form of burner standardhereinbefore described, residesin its ready ad a ability for -use witha. hos attachment Be- The tween the 'eneratorunit, andburner. 1 use ofthe mac attachment is illustrated in Fig. 6. The outer'sect-ion 36 ofthe burner standard :is detached and supported in an upright remote fromthe generator unit desi ated by 38. The. gas is'sup lied to the urnerthrou h a hose 39 wlnc has one end connecte with the upper extremity ofthe fixed g5 section' iO of the urner standard and the other endconnected by an elbow coupling '41 with thebottom ofthe standardsection.

36.';',From this it will be seen that by the tripod 87, hose .39 and-clw connection 4-1, a. generating and lighting set can be'operated with 'ahose; attachment without any change in design.

, In Fig. 7a modifiedfform of standard is es shown, wherein the coupling42 is provided with a nip le 43 for receivingja hose attachy-this meansthe, generator can supply the burner on the standard 44 and any suitablenumber-0f burners connected 1 00 desired, as are within the scopo of theclaims.

Having thus described my invention,

"what I claim is:

1. In an apparatus o'f.-the class described, the combination of a tank,a partition dividing the tank into washer and generator compartments, aremovable nerator disposed above the partition an communicatmg with thewasher compartment, anoutletpipe in the.tank and communicating withthewasher compartment, and a remov- 155' able discharge ipc assembledoil'tind held thereby rotataliiy in upright position'and supported bythe partition and disposedwit-hin the tank to be pmtected thereby.

2.,I n an apparatus of the class described 1 ition by .a stand or tripod37 and can bg located at a. point more or less ar ts, namely, the onoperation, will be readily 'lofi ther with the apparatus cat \onte andabove the r'tltion respectively, let pipesecure described, thecombination of a water-containing tank, a generatortherein, a washer inthe tank 3. In an apparatus of the class and ro ecting 'out of the topthereof, and the rst partextending upwardly in the tank and intothesaid' whereby the body of water in the tank forms a seal between thesaid parts and in which the generator is submerged. e combinationtherein and removable therefrom, an outlet tate thereon and disposedbetween the gen I erator and wall ofthe tank to in the water inthelatter. J

5. The combination of a water-containin tank, a vertically-extendingpipe mounte therein, a generator pipe, a second pipe loose y assembledover the first pipe and composed of two sections and a couplinconnecting the sections together, and a locking tank and engaging'thecoupling for preventof 'the second pipe.

An apparatus of the class described comprising a tan'kfan upwardlyconducting outlet pipe,'a washer in the base of the I tankand-communicating with the bottom of the ipe, a removable pipe looselymounted first pipe-and held in upright position solely thereby, agenerator in the tank, and a gas conducting pipe connecting thegenerator with the'washer.

' '2 The combination of. a tank, a generator t erein, an upright pipesecured to the tank and connected with the generator to receive gastherefrom, a secondpipe of greater length; than the first mentloned pipeand assembled over and held in upright position thereby, the lower endof the second pipe being open to slip on andofi the first-mentionedpipe, and a locking device fixed with respect to the tank'and arrangedto engage the second pipeto hold the latter in position.

over and rotatable on the outl supplying gas to the 8. The combinationof atank, a generator therein, a fixed outlet pipe receiving as from thegenerator, a pipe removably fitted et pipe, and a locking means on thetank for holding the second pipe in osition and at the same timepermitting the atter to rotate.

he combinationof a portable water- 4 containing" tank, a generatorremovably mounted therein and portable therewith, and a gasoutletconduit for the enerator. mounted on the tank and portable theretoremain in place (1111 lower end to telescope vertically over the treeportion of the st-mentioned communicating therewith,- the secon ipeheight than of a portable waterright pipe having its lower end isposedbe-' low the enerator and connected with; the

lower end two pipesbeing adapted'to be'sealed ter to prevent leakage ofgas.

ll. The combination of a horizontal partition dividing the tank into anupper generatinglower was pi e and v o an upportable tank, a

having openings, :1 generator in the upper compartment, a pipe carriedby the genera tor and conducting gas therefrom, a pipe extending. intothe first upper end to receive iaving .an open washer compartmentthrough one of the openings of the partition to deliver as to the saidcompartment, afixed outlet plpe'secured only at its lower portiontothetank 1115' pipeand open at its i gas from the latter and lower endentering =the and having its lower end communicating with the washercompartment throughthe;

other opening in'the partitionandopen at its upper end, and a pipeloosely assembled over the outlet pi e to receive upper open end 0 thelatter;

he com V U tion dividing t e tank. into an uppe'r gen bination of'atank-,fa parti compartment and a her compartment, said partition Carerating compartment and a lower washer compartment, a fixed plpe passingthrough the upper compartment. and having an open upper end disposedabove the water level in the said compartment and having an open lowerend communicating with the washer compartment through the partition, agenerator removably mounted in the upper com partment, a pipe carried byand having its receiving end connected with the top of the generator andinto which the first pipe extends to receive gas from the generatorthrough the second pipe, an outlet pipe rigidly secured at its lower endto the tanl; and

communicating with the washer compartment and having its upper end open,a pipe of larger diameter and longer than the outlet pipe and assembledvertically over the open upper end thereof and projecting above thesame, and a device attached to the tank and engaged with thelastmentioned pipe for preventing the latter from lifting off the outletpipe.

i In testimony whereof I afiir; my signature in presence of twowitnesses.

ALEXANDER F. J. JOHNSON.

Vitnesses N. Coxnnm,

CARL WV. S'rnrrms.

